Ranking all of Steph’s teammates: #88 — Coby Karl

On June 25, 2009, the Golden State Warriors drafted Steph Curry. Ten years and 16 days later, the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets. With that move, Curry moved to second in the NBA for longest tenure with his current team. The only player he sits behind is Udonis Haslem, though that feels like a technicality. At this point, Haslem is essentially an assistant coach for the Miami Heat, having appeared in just 43 games and played fewer than 300 minutes over the last four seasons combined.

During his time in the Bay Area, Curry has had 106 teammates who have appeared in at least one game. Some played in exactly one game, while others played in hundreds. Some never actually played in a game that Curry was active for, while others formed historically great partnerships with him.

And I’m ranking all 106, one a day, over the course of three months.

Players are ranked — and stats are shown — based only on their time as Curry’s teammate. How good/bad they were in other organizations doesn’t matter. How good/bad they were on pre-2009-10 Warriors teams doesn’t matter.

To see all of the rankings thus far, you can click on the “Ranking Steph’s teammates” tag at the top of the article.

#88 — Coby Karl

Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images

Games: 4 (T-98th out of 106)
Points per game: 7.0 (42nd out of 106)
Rebounds per game: 4.0 (T-29th out of 106)
Assists per game: 3.8 (8th out of 106)

I was today years old when I found out that Coby Karl is one of Steph Curry’s ten most prolific teammates when it comes to passing the ball. He finished 8th in assists per game of all the players on this list!

The per game stats paint a player who should be a lot higher than 88th, but a little digging shows the numbers to be a touch fraudulent. After all, there’s a reason Karl only played four games with the Warriors. And there’s a reason he never played another NBA game after his stint in Oakland.

Not unlike how they’ve handled the 2019-20 season, the Warriors signed Karl to a 10-day contract in 2009-10, and set him loose on the court. He played big minutes in all four of his games with the Dubs, averaging 27 minutes a night. So if you’re wondering how he averaged 7.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, that’s how: he played a lot.

He even got one start — the only one of his career — where he got to form a star backcourt next to Curry and Monta Ellis. Curry had 23 points on 9-15 shooting that game, so clearly Karl’s gravity was something special.

Karl struggled shooting the ball with the Warriors, making just 11 of 32 shots, and going 2-11 from beyond the arc. He had 14 fouls in just four games, which is funny because he only had four fouls in the other 20 games he played in his career.

If there’s any consolation to his mediocre stint with the Warriors, it’s that it wasn’t the worst stint in his career. Earlier in the 2009-10 season he spent three games with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and averaged 0.0 points, 0.7 rebounds, 0.0 assists, 0.0 steals, 0.0 blocks, and 1.3 turnovers per game.

Ultimately, playing wasn’t the best option for him, and now he’s following in the footsteps of his father, former Warriors head coach (and former NBA Coach of the Year) George Karl. Since 2016, Coby has been a head coach in the G League, and seems to be doing quite well.

His time as Curry’s teammate wasn’t very memorable, but he may coach against Curry one day. We’ll see how that goes.